A now-dead serial rapist and murderer has been identified as a suspect in two brutal East Bay killings from the 1970s, according to law enforcement officials.

Police in both Newark and Hayward said modern DNA testing technology enabled them to identify Fred Bernard Farnham as a suspect in the rape and beating deaths of 59-year-old Nellie Hicks and 48-year-old Theresa Pica.

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Kiley Russell writes primarily for Local News Matters on issues related to equity and the environment. A Bay Area native, he has lived most of his life in Oakland. He studied journalism at San Francisco State University, worked for the Associated Press and the former Contra Costa Times, among other outlets. He has covered everything from state legislatures, local governments, federal and state courts, crime, growth and development, political campaigns of various stripes, wildfires and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.